CAMDEN — As the legal profession continues to adjust to a changing global economy, some traditions of the trade remain of the utmost importance, most notably, how strong legal writing is vital for success. A tradition of recognizing excellence in legal writing, central to a Rutgers Law–Camden education, is an award established in 2000 by the New Jersey law firm Capehart Scatchard.
Established by the Mount Laurel firm, the prize, which includes a monetary award, honors its then most senior shareholder Blaine E. Capehart, who died at 104 years old. It recognizes a law student who has written an outstanding piece of scholarly or practical writing during the past academic year.
Rutgers Law–Camden third-year student Jordan Hollander was awarded the 2014 Blaine E. Capehart Legal Writing Award for his paper titled “The House Always Wins: The World Trade Organization, Online Gambling, and State Sovereignty," which has since been accepted for publication in the scholarly journal Gaming Law Review and Economics. Hollander and members of his family, with Rutgers Law–Camden faculty and leadership, attended a special ceremony at the firm on May 16.
According to Rutgers Law–Camden Dean Rayman Solomon, the award and the tradition with Capehart Scatchard continues to be an important graduation honor at the law school, where legal writing is core to the law school curriculum.
“Awards like these provide us with opportunities to recognize outstanding student scholarship, and connect the law school and our students to influential law firms with long traditions in the region’s legal community,” says Solomon, who offered remarks during the ceremony with Capehart Scatchard Managing Shareholder Peter S. Bejsiuk and Shareholder Lora V. Northern, a 1987 alumna.
Hollander, who is graduating this month Summa cum laude, decided to research this issue after a Rutgers Law–Camden course on casino law, taught by Stephen Schrier '79, a partner at Blank Rome LLP., and an internship with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. He was nominated for the award by Stacy Hawkins, as assistant professor at Rutgers Law–Camden.
“As more and more jurisdictions begin to offer more and more forms of gambling to the general populace, traditional stand-alone ‘convenience’ gambling markets have suffered. One need only look down the Garden State Parkway to see how changes in gambling policy and preferences among states have led to a steep decline in profits and revenue in Atlantic City, long the second largest gambling market in the United States,” he writes in the article.
After Hollander graduates this month, he will take the New Jersey and New York bar exams in July and then will begin a clerkship with the Hon. Francis J. Vernoia, the presiding criminal judge for Monmouth County, Vicinage 9. When his clerkship is completed, he will join the law firm of Genova, Burns, Giantomasi, and Webster in Newark.
“I have always enjoyed research and writing, and I feel that this award validates the importance of these skills in the legal profession and is a credit that I share with the professors and faculty at Rutgers who mentored me in this regard,” says Hollander.
Eighteen Rutgers Law–Camden law students have won the Capehart Scatchard, some in groups, writing on a wide array of complex legal topics, since it was established in 2000 in Blaine E. Capehart’s name.
Born in Philadelphia in 1908, Capehart grew up in South Jersey and was educated at Dickinson College, Harvard University Law School, and Temple University Law School, where he ultimately earned his LL.B. in 1934. His impressive legal career began with him serving as a litigator for the railroad industry, then arbitrating workers’ compensation cases, and eventually settling into estate work until the end of his career.
A fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and American Bar Foundation, Capehart was a member of the American, New Jersey State, Burlington and Camden County Bar Associations, and the American Judicature Society.
At 98 years old, he began lessons to improve his golf game, which he played until he was 102. He passed in June 2012.